Hindsight is 2020
by SpunkRansom225
Summary: Eight years after Edward left Bella, he returns. When presented with the option to be with him again, will Bella choose Edward or the semi-satisfactory life she's made with Jacob and their son?


It had been years since Bella had felt the prickling feeling at the back of her neck. It was the kind of feeling that made your skin crawl and filled you with fear. It was the kind of feeling that made a person feel like they were being watched. The last time Bella had gotten the feeling, she was nineteen and had been in her father's home in Forks, Washington reading in the windowsill of her old bedroom. The next time was at her and Jacob's wedding when she was twenty. She'd gotten the feeling again as Jacob rushed her to the car to get her to the hospital for the birth of their now five year old son, Taylor.

Now at twenty six, Bella was caught by surprise at the sudden eerie feeling as she was unloading groceries from her car and she turned quickly to scan the woods that framed her and Jacob's small house in La Push. When Bella saw nothing, her fear increased. Having spent the end of her teen years discovering that vampires and werewolves were actual creatures and not imaginary, she'd developed horrible paranoia. She had no clue what could be out there now, watching her.

Bella followed her instincts and left the shopping bags forgotten in the trunk, grabbed Taylor from the car and ran up the front steps of her porch. She collided with Jacob as he was opening the door to exit. "Whoa, Bells, where's the fire?" he asked, grabbing her shoulders to keep her from falling.

Bella hitched Taylor higher up on her hip. "Jacob, I-I felt it again. I think someone was in the woods. They're watching the house!"

Jacob rubbed soothing circles on Bella's back and placed a reassuring kiss on her lips before he led her inside. "Honey, nothing is out there. If there was, I would know it before you even had the chance to sense something." He tapped his nose and then his ears, reminding her that the fact that he was a werewolf gave him heightened senses. He could smell, see and hear things from miles away. "Just stay inside if you're scared. I'll get the bags from the car. I promise, honey, nothing is getting past me."

Bella watched him walk down the porch steps and retrieve the bags with slight anger. Every time she had felt uneasy or unsafe in the past, she'd let Jacob know. Each time he had brushed it off with almost the same words he'd used today - she was safe; he had things under control - and each time she'd built up a little more resentment toward him. He was her husband for goodness sakes. It was his job to listen to her and make her feel safe, not disregard her unease and make her feel insane. To hell with what Jacob said though. Bella knew there was something out there. There was no denying it.

It couldn't have been more than two weeks later when Bella got the crawling feeling of being watched again. Jacob was at work and Taylor was in school, so she was alone. As angry as his words had made her earlier, Bella wished Jacob was here with her now to tell her there was nothing to worry about. She glanced up from washing last night's dinner dishes and out the kitchen window and the plate in her hand clanked loudly into the sink. Bella's breath caught in her chest as she watched Edward Cullen emerge from the tree line of her backyard. He looked exactly as he had eight years ago when he'd left her alone in the woods a week after her eighteenth birthday. The familiarity of his forever seventeen face caused images of Bella's past to flood her mind.

Bella felt like she had traveled back in time to when she was seventeen again because of the clarity of her memories. She remembered the soft touches along her body. She remembered the tender kisses that caused her to forget how to breathe. Most of all, Bella remembered the endless declarations of love. Then she remembered how it had all been stripped away with only five words. _I don't want you, Bella, _Edward had said. It was all because she wasn't a vampire like him. She wasn't majestic or strong or immortal. She was just a normal, boring and weak human girl who got older with each passing day.

Bella's eyes swept back over the yard, but Edward was gone. Bella became frantic. Edward couldn't have been just a hallucination; it had seemed too real. Realer than any other fantasy she'd ever had of Edward coming back for her.

"Bella." She heard her name breathed from behind her, spoken with the smoothness of honey, and she turned right into the arms of her first love. His cold arms embraced her and she began to weep, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked through her tears.

Edward led her to the sofa and wrapped his hands around hers when they were seated. "Bella, leaving you was the biggest mistake I've made in a hundred years. I lied to you, Bella. Saying I no longer loved you was the farthest thing from the truth. I spent the last eight years dwelling on it and now I've made up my mind that I don't want to be unhappy. Take me back, Bella, please."

By now, Bella was sobbing uncontrollably. She had no idea why he was doing this. She'd devoted her life to him when she was younger. She had made up her mind to give up everything - her family, her friends, her _life_ - for him and become a vampire, but he'd cast her aside. He'd broken her and told her to forget him. She'd chosen to live a half-full life with Jacob instead of an empty one alone. She'd finally made progress and now he was back, shattering everything to pieces again.

Despite all of this though, Bella couldn't make herself hate him. God knows that she'd tried so hard over the years but she just couldn't make herself do it. Edward had once told her that he was a good predator because everything about vampires were inviting to humans. There was something addicting about them. Bella didn't want to believe that was the reason though. She knew she couldn't hate Edward only because she loved him too much.

"Bella, you're driving me insane. You know you're the only person on this earth whose mind I can't read. Tell me what you're thinking."

Bella wiped her eyes and breathed in deeply. She hoped she wouldn't regret her decision later and said, "You can't leave me again."

Edward's face broke out into his signature one-sided smile. "Never, love," he whispered right before he kissed her.

For months, Bella and Edward met behind Jacob's back. Every morning when Jacob left for work and after she'd put Taylor on the school bus, Bella would drive over to the Cullen's old home deep in the woods. It was the perfect place to meet because the treaty between the wolves and vampires kept them off each other's land. It was just like old times. She and Edward would share tender moments and he'd recite Shakespeare to her. Sometimes he still played her songs on the piano.

Save for having to scrub herself clean in the shower for an hour to hide the vampire stench from Jacob, Bella felt like her life was perfect now. Her heart was put back together and she had both the loves of her life. The only thing was her overwhelming guilt. Jacob had been there for her ever since Edward had left her for dead in the woods. Jacob had spent months bringing her out of depression and this is how she repaid him? Jacob deserved to know the truth, no matter how much it would hurt her to tell him.

Bella made arrangements for Taylor to spend the night at her dad's house one Saturday night and while she and Jacob were watching TV, Bella blurted out her confession for lack of a better way to introduce the topic. "Edward is back." Jacob became rigid beside her. "I've been seeing him," she continued. She had to get it all out before she lost her nerve.

"I-" She stopped when Jacob leapt from his seat and began pacing the living room floor. Bella could see his shape flicker slightly. She hoped he could calm down enough to stop from phasing. Bella heard Jacob mumble something angrily. "What did you say?" she asked, hoping she hadn't heard what she thought she had.

Jacob stopped pacing. "He wasn't supposed to make himself known! He said he'd hide! He said he'd stay in the damn shadows!" He began pacing again. It seemed like that was the only thing that kept him from exploding into a wolf.

Bella let the words sink in and was overcome with rage. "Jacob," she said through clenched teeth, "what do you mean?"

It was clear to Bella that Jacob's anger had caused him to forget to filter his words. If he thought it, he said it. "Freaking Cullen! Why would I even believe a bloodsucker? So _stupid! _'I just want to check on her every few years, that's all.' Bullshit!"

"Oh my God. OH MY GOD! You _knew! _You knew he still loved me and you never told me! When? How long did you know?" Bella had stood up too and was pounding Jacob on the chest. She knew his supernatural strength allowed him not to feel her hits but she liked to think she was hurting him.

"Your nineteenth birthday." Jacob sighed. He didn't seem so angry anymore. He looked defeated. Bella guessed he always knew her feelings for Edward never truly went away.

"You had no right, Jacob. None! Why would you do that?" All those times she'd felt like she was being watched, it had been Edward making sure she was safe.

"Because I was in love with you too, Bella! But all you could do was think about your precious leech! I'd finally gotten you to love me. Even if it was a fraction of what you felt for him, it was something and I wasn't going to let that go."

"That is the most selfish thing I've ever heard! Don't you think about anyone else but yourself?"

"Don't give me that crap, Bella. You were happy with me. I could see it in your eyes. I made you happy!"

"Not as happy as Edward could've made me!"

"Well," Jacob threw his hands up in the air, "you know the truth now. I guess you have a choice to make. The parasite, or me and our son."

"Jacob, don't do this. Don't make me choose."

"What else am I supposed to do, Bella? Share you with another man? Every other weekend you go off to him? What do I tell Taylor? 'Mommy is spending some time with her ex-boyfriend because she doesn't know what she wants in life. Don't worry though; we get her back on Monday.' I don't think so. Decide, Bella. Now."

"This isn't fair, Jacob!"

"Neither is you living two lives. Choose, _now!_"

"Edward," she whispered, choking out a sob.

Jacob stumbled back like she'd slapped him. He obviously hadn't expected her to make that choice. "Get out," he ordered. He was seething. Bella didn't move. She was still letting her choice sink in. Had it been the right one? "GET OUT!" Jacob screamed. Bella ran from the house and into her car. As she was backing out of the driveway, she saw a flash of red fur rush past. She looked toward the tree line just in time to see Jacob disappear into the woods.

It took Bella fifteen minutes to make it to the Cullen's house. She ran into the house, yelling for Edward. He was at her side in two seconds. "I left Jacob. He made me choose and I picked you."

Edward wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Bella, thank you. I love you so much."

"Change me, Edward. Make me like you, please!"

"Bella, I can't. You know I can't. I might not be able to stop."

"You have to try. Please. I need this!" Bella yanked her collar down, baring her neck. "Do it, Edward. I trust you." Edward looked unsure. "Please," she begged. Bella grabbed Edward's shirt and yanked him down. She saw something primal flash in his eyes and then felt the searing pain of his teeth sink into her skin like it was made of butter. Bella felt her blood being drained. _This is it, _she thought. Jacob and Taylor's faces were the last things she saw.

It took three days for the transformation to finish. Three agonizing days. Bella had been sure she was going to die, but she hadn't. When the last of Edward's venom had coursed through her veins and her heart had come to a complete stop, Bella had opened her eyes to Edward smiling down at her.

It took thirty seconds for Bella to realize what she had done. She was instantly filled with regret for choosing something that was a fantasy instead of cherishing what was real and what made her happy. With a speed unknown to any human being, Bella jumped up from the Cullen's couch and ran from the house without sparing a second thought to Edward and his voice calling her back to him.

In half the time it would've taken Bella to drive to La Push from Forks, Bella ran to her and Jacob's house. She didn't have a chance to get to the front door or even ten feet within the house before Jacob came bounding out. He stopped in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. "Your kind isn't allowed on the tribe lands."

"Jacob, I made a mistake. I'm so sorry. Please."

"It's too late for your apologies, Bella. You need to go."

"This is my home, Jacob! You can't do this."

"Go, Bella."

Bella glanced behind Jacob and saw Taylor standing in the doorway. "Mommy?" He rubbed his eyes tiredly. Bella made a step towards him but Jacob was right there in front of her again.

"Don't go near him."

"Jacob, you can't keep me away from him; I'm his mother."

"You're a bloodsucker. His mother is dead." Bella felt the weight of his words crash down on her like a freight train. She wanted to cry, but vampires couldn't produce tears.

She didn't care what Jacob said though. Taylor was her child too. She made to take a step toward Taylor again and Jacob snarled this time. He grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her back.

"Don't test me, Bella. You're my enemy now. I won't hesitate to break your arms off and set you on fire. I will kill you if you try to go near him again," he hissed into her ear. Through her peripheral, Bella saw Edward appear from out of the woods. "Take her away, Cullen," Jacob said, shoving her toward Edward.

Edward grabbed Bella's arms, leading her away from everything that mattered to her and into a life that she thought was what she had wanted. She spared a glance back at Jacob and broke inside at his look of pure hatred.

"Happy birthday, Taylor!" The words came from the many teenagers that filled the front yard of Bella's old house. Today, Taylor turned fifteen. Bella watched from deep in the trees as Taylor smiled widely at all of his friends and family. She watched as he went around and hugged each of them, thanking them for spending his special day with him and she wished she knew what his hugs felt like.

Bella allowed herself a small smile when she saw his reaction to the gift she had sent him. "Holy crap, a dirt bike! Thanks, Dad!" Taylor hugged Jacob fiercely. She didn't mind Jacob taking credit for her gift. After all, it would be weird for the tag to say **From Mom **since Taylor thought she was dead. The whole town did actually. After Bella had been dragged away, Jacob had told everyone how she had died in a tragic car crash.

Jacob's eyes flicked to the tree line and he gave a slight nod. It was his signal that it was time for Bella to leave. Bella sighed and willed the heartbroken feeling away. She had Taylor's next birthday to look forward to and a year was nothing in the eyes of an immortal. Bella took one last look at her son and then turned to retreat into the woods. Even though it pained her to leave everything behind year after year, Bella was just grateful Jacob allowed her to watch from the shadows.


End file.
